Nexus shutterbugs may get Google Photos sweetheart deal

If YouTube didn’t show how deep Google’s cloud bank has grown to be, bring on last year’s I/O. The event brought on the free storage of lightly-processed images under 16 megapixels in resolution. Original quality photo uploads still count against users’ Drive storage, but there’s a hint coming through from the code compilation of the Google Photos app, version 1.21.

Specifically, it’s this string in the Android app that’s getting all the attention:

<string name=”photos_onboarding_nexus_back_up_your_photos”>With Nexus, back up all you want!</string> <string name=”photos_onboarding_nexus_back_up_your_photos_description”>Unlimited free storage for original quality photos &amp; videos uploaded from your Nexus device</string>

It’s code that doesn’t lead to apparent results just yet, but if so, it should be an appreciated move if future Nexus devices get cameras with finer resolutions than today’s 5X or 6P. Some pixel nerds can also enjoy just a little less artifacting — even the light touches that Google does with its “High Quality” processing.

We may also infer from the wording on that code that very possibly any image uploaded from a Nexus device can get onto your Photos bucket for free. With many dedicated cameras these days able to route pictures to smartphones and tablets through NFC, the thought of even more dots a-poppin’ per snap is nice.

Of course, we’re only looking at two strings of code that are subject to change before we see any pop-up windows telling us that this feature is available. If you own a recent Nexus device, keep your eyes peeled.

Jules Wang is News Editor for Pocketnow and one of the hosts of the Pocketnow Weekly Podcast. He came onto the team in 2014 as an intern editing and producing videos and the podcast while he was studying journalism at Emerson College. He graduated the year after and entered into his current position at Pocketnow, full-time.